I opened my eyes. Orange flame danced merrily at the edges of my robes and flashed from my face, but they left my body unharmed. Warm magic bled through my body, and I let the flames die out with a thought.
The Hierophant halted in his tracks and stared at me. “Where did you first learn to Augment?” he demanded.
I almost said “the Unwashed Temple” but held my tongue. The longer I sat here in the monastery, the more I became convinced that Tolin had something to do with the monks. The old hermit had never given me the answers I’d wanted, and I wondered if it was to protect himself. If there was a chance that speaking of my origins in the Seven Realms could cause trouble for my old mentor, then I wasn’t willing to take it. The Hierophant was powerful, true, but I didn’t know the man. And I had been to guilds before that had turned their students away from the Wandering Path. Xilarion had trusted Horix, and I’d killed him when I’d realized that the Resplendent Tears guildmaster was a power-hungry monster. This Hierophant could be another man with a terrible secret, walking a wicked path.
“I learned a few things from Master Faryn,” I answered, “before I made my way to Radiant Dragon. She taught me how to farm cores and use techniques.”
“Then your instinctive grasp of Augmentation is greater than that of any other student I have seen in centuries. Your understanding of your own pathways takes years to achieve. To shift and shape them in such a way, decades. And yet you’ve managed it in half an hour.”
“I’ve been known to exceed expectations before,” I said.
“Evidently,” the Hierophant said. “To your feet, Disciple. Let us test your newfound understanding, see if you truly are as impressive as the spirits have stated.”
I stood, fought off another rush of fatigue, and waited for the Hierophant to explain what he meant. He strode behind me before he positioned himself in the center of the enormous hall. He clasped his hands behind his back in a contemplative pose that reminded me of Xilarion.
“Attack, Disciple. Hold nothing back. Allow the Vigor to flow through you freely. But resist the urge to rely on technique or bladecraft. Neither will serve you here.”
I fortified my body with Vigor. Flame hissed into life around me, and strength surged into my muscles. I couldn’t help but grin at the sensation. I left the fatigue behind, measured the distance between myself and the Hierophant, then advanced with a confident stride.
It wasn’t every day you got to brawl with an ageless monk, and I was excited to test out my newfound power.
The Hierophant raised an eyebrow when I lunged off my front foot. The ground sailed away from beneath my feet, and I gasped as the sheer force of the jump carried me over his head. I landed, slid to a halt, and recovered in an instant.
I’d just jumped clean over his head without even trying.
Exactly how powerful did Physical Augmenting make me?
The Hierophant unclasped his hands. Subtle heat haze rippled off his skin as he strolled forward with an almost-bored expression. I readjusted my position and threw a lightning-fast jab at him. He blocked it with a snake-like hand, slammed his other fist into my chest, and floored me. My lungs burned from the lack of air, but I twisted up into a backward handspring.
I couldn’t even feel my own weight anymore. The fire burned through me, a weightless force charged with power, and I took a deep breath. The Hierophant beckoned me with a slight nod, and I aimed a flurry of straight punches and elbows at him. His hands flashed out like cobras, intercepting and deflecting my blows. His posture was too good, and I couldn’t trade hands like this forever.
I changed things up, delivering a roundhouse to his leg, but the Hierophant raised his knee to block it. The floor trembled at the impact, and I twisted into another kick at his chest. He blocked it with crossed arms, but the sheer power of the blow slid him back 10 feet. I bounded after him in two easy steps and ripped at his face with an axe kick. He caught the blow on his forearms, and the floor crackled under his worn sandals. His own leg struck out like a coiled spring, took out my supporting limb, and he threw me like a football. I bunched myself up as I soared through the air and slammed into one of the hall’s supporting pillars. The whole ceiling shook at the impact, and I hit the ground on my hands and knees.
A blow like that should have snapped my spine in half like a twig.
This was insane. I’d always been fit, but now, I felt like I could match a superhero in combat. I sprinted at the Hierophant, the floor whipping away under my feet. I torqued my hips and went low in a sweep kick. The monk backflipped into the air, landed in front of the altar, and raised his hands to block my next attack. I threw everything I had into a blow.
My fist slammed into his palm like thunder.
The candles on the altar flickered out as a shockwave exploded outward. I paused as the Hierophant stepped back to sheathe his hands in his oversized sleeves. He inclined his head slightly to me in the universal sign of respect. I did the same.
Vigor and adrenaline raced through me as I caught my breath. It took a minute to cut off the addictive supply of super-strength. The flame around me vanished back into my skin, and the gloom of the hall surrounded us in an instant.
Chapter Ten
“Resume your seat,” the Hierophant said.
I sat at my original place by the Immense Blades.
A small flame appeared around
